Beautiful
by C0bwebb
Summary: WARNING:  Helen is pregnant in this story!  As Helen Magnus gives birth to her second child she and Will worry about the health of the baby.  WARNING:  Helen is pregnant in this story!DISCLAIMER:I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters.


TITLE

Beautiful

SUMMARY

As Helen Magnus gives birth to her second child she and Will worry about the health of the baby.

STORY NOTES

WARNING: Helen is pregnant in this story!

I wrote this story for SentientMist It was partially inspired by her love of seeing Helen and Will with children and some of the wonderful kid fics that she's written about them. See: .?action=storiesby&uid=469

It was partially inspired by her love of seeing Helen and Will with children and some of the wonderful kid fics that she's written about them.

WARNING: Pregnant/Birth fic!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Sanctuary or its characters and I am not making any profit from them.

Beautiful

It started around 2:18 AM. Helen awoke suddenly, feeling odd. She had only slept a couple of hours. At first she thought it was the noise of the storm outside that had disturbed her. But she quickly realized that it was not noise but a growing feeling of discomfort that had interrupted her sleep.

The storm had been approaching that evening when they went to bed but now it was directly over the Sanctuary. They had gone to bed late that night as usual. Will did everything he could to try to make Helen comfortable before turning in himself. Normally unnerved by Will's dotting, tonight Helen was grateful for it. She felt incredibly tired and her back ached. She felt an overwhelming sense of relief when Will helped her ease down into the bed. She felt the bed shift slightly and tried not to wince as Will laid down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as gently as possible.

The last two and a half weeks of Helen's pregnancy had been particularly uncomfortable for her. Although he now shared her bed, Will had been afraid to put his arms around her as she slept for fear of making her even more uncomfortable. But after a few days, Helen, as intuitive as always, had guessed the reason for his reluctance.

"I'll be uncomfortable regardless of what you do, Will," she pointed out. "But I'll feel better with your arms around me." So, Will had gone back to sleeping close to her, wrapping his arms around her, and cradling her body against his own.

Helen felt the pain building again. She looked at the digital alarm clock, a new addition to the room. She had never needed help waking up. But when Will began sharing her bed he brought the clock with him. The blue display changed as she looked at it. It was now 3:05 AM. Helen knew she would have to wake Will soon. She would have to go to the infirmary before too much longer, but she wanted to let Will sleep as long as possible. She closed her eyes against the pain, tried to keep her breathing even, and waited for it to subside.

When the pain began to diminish, Helen opened her eyes. She listened to the thunder and heard the rain lashing against her bedroom windows…their bedroom windows. She heard Will's deep even breathing next to her and felt comforted by it. He stirred as she watched him, turning onto his side so that he was now facing her. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking at her for a few moments, and then reached out to take her hand. When he realized she was awake and watching him, he smiled at her and moved his hand to gently stroke her cheek. Helen turned her head to kiss his palm. Will smiled at her in response and moved closer to her. He moved his hand gently down her shoulder and arm bringing it to rest on her stomach.

"She's quiet tonight," he whispered.

"I know," Helen responded covering his hand with her own.

"Is she – ?"

"She's fine Will," Helen smiled. As if in response to Will's question, the baby made a slight movement underneath his hand. Will smiled and relaxed leaving his hand on Helen's stomach. They had both been so worried over her pregnancy and not without reason.

Helen and Will had grown closer together in the previous year. One night Will had discovered her asleep on a sofa in the library surrounded by the books she had been pouring over earlier that day. Will had carefully carried her to her room, intending only to put her in her bed. But Helen woke up just as Will placed her on the bed. She reached up and pulled him down onto the bed with her, kissing him as she did, and that night she and Will made love for the first time.

Without realizing that she had or even could conceive that night, she and Will left the following morning on a retrieval mission. The mission had gone horribly wrong. Helen had been seriously injured. She had almost died. In fact for a short time she had died and if it had not been for Gregory Magnus's decision to resurface and for his skill as a doctor and surgeon, Helen would not have survived.

Initially, Helen's injuries seemed to heal quickly. This was normal for her; she typically recovered from injuries very quickly as the Source blood had enhanced her body's natural ability to heal itself. However, in this instance Gregory noticed that her rate of healing had slowed to a rate that would be considered slow even for a normal human. At first Gregory was not overly concerned but as the days progressed and Helen's body seemed to struggle to heal itself Gregory became worried. He noted that she seemed to have less energy with each passing day and that she seemed to feel nauseous a lot of the time. It took him several more days and many tests before he learned the cause of the problem. Helen Magnus was pregnant.

Since learning of her pregnancy, Helen and Will had run every test imaginable to find out if the baby was healthy. The results had shown that child was healthy. Still unconvinced, Helen ran several less conventional tests and had even enlisted the help of the mermaid, Sally to try to ascertain the baby's condition. Although Helen remained uneasy, all of the evidence indicated that she was carrying a normal healthy baby. One that had somehow managed to survive the trauma that its mother had endured during her first few days of pregnancy. The tests also indicated that the baby was a girl.

In spite of the test results Helen remained concerned. She was somewhat reassured when she began to feel the baby moving within her….but not entirely. Although the baby moved, its movements were slow and very different from those she had experienced with Ashley. She tried not to make comparisons between the two pregnancies, but she couldn't help noticing certain differences. Ashley had been active right up until the point that she was delivered. In fact there were times when Helen thought she might be driven mad with Ashley's constant movements.

Will was aware of Helen's concerns and did his best to reassure her. Helen was thankful for his efforts. She knew he was nervous too but he did everything he could to try to hide it. Helen was glad to have him with her and she knew that one positive difference with this pregnancy is that she wouldn't have to go through it alone.

Will watched Helen, his hand still on her stomach, when suddenly he felt her body stiffen. Her face clouded momentarily and then she looked at Will.

"What is that? What's wrong?" he asked.

Several seconds ticked by and she didn't respond.

"Helen? Is that…?"

She nodded in response. The contraction passed and she sighed in relief.

"Shouldn't we go to the infirmary now?" Will whispered.

"In a few minutes," she nodded.

Will moved his hand up to gently stroke her cheek. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"We're fine, Will," she smiled. "Can you help me up?" then noting his questioning look she added, "It's best if I walk."

Will nodded in response, stopping first to page Gregory before moving to help Helen out of the bed.

"Helen I can see her now! She's beautiful." Will whispered.

Helen was afraid to open her eyes, fearing that if she did her resolve to push though the pain would be lost and she would simply collapse back onto the bed.

"Almost, Helen," she heard her father say. He was another Godsend, for which Helen was grateful. After he realized Helen was pregnant he had simply refused to leave the Sanctuary. Insisting that he should stay to see her through what he feared might be a difficult pregnancy and birth. Gregory Magnus was, after all, a brilliant physician and surgeon.

"Helen," her father's voice cut through her thoughts. "Her shoulders are almost free. Can you do one more?"

Leaning heavily against Will trying to catch her breath Helen could only manage to nod in reply. Will sat behind her on the bed. Supporting her back, trying to do whatever he could to soothe her. She was grateful for his presence. She knew it wasn't an easy thing for him to watch. She turned her head pressing her forehead against his cheek. He lightly kissed her forehead in response and whispered, "I love you so much, Helen."

Helen smiled. "I love you too," she said breathlessly as she began to feel another wave of pain building. She turned her head forward looking at her father.

"Are you ready?" Gregory asked.

Helen nodded in response clenching her teeth and tightly griping Will's hand. She cried out again trying to push against the searing tearing pain.

"That's it. A little more," Gregory coaxed. And then finally, "That's good. She's free!"

Helen breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed gasping against Will. "She so beautiful," Will said. Helen opened her eyes, and only managed to catch a brief glimpse of the tiny baby as Gregory hurried away with her into another area of the room. But Helen saw enough of the baby to see that it was in fact a girl and that she appeared to be healthy.

Helen felt exhausted, more exhausted than she'd ever been in her life. She felt an enormous sense of relief, and she wanted nothing more than to lean back into Will's chest and go to sleep. "Rest now," Will soothed. But something wouldn't let her. Something felt wrong. Tired as she was Helen struggled to try to figure it out. She felt as if she were fighting a losing battle against the exhaustion that threatened to pull her into a deep peaceful sleep. _Everything is so quiet_, she thought. _It would be so easy to just…It's _too_ quiet_, she realized. Suddenly her eyes flew open. Helen looked around for Gregory and saw that he had taken the baby to a table. He had his back to Helen. She couldn't see what was happening. _She's not crying_ Helen thought. _The baby should be crying_.

"Why isn't she crying?" Unable to keep the fear from her voice Helen looked to Will.

"Shhh. The baby is fine. Your father is taking care of her." Will worked to keep the fear out of his own voice as he tried to calm Helen. "Just rest now."

But Helen wouldn't be calmed. "No Will I want to see her," she cried.

"She's in good hands. Let Gregory do his job," Will said.

Before Will was able to stop her, or even realized what she was doing, Helen moved to get out to the bed. She was determined to reach her daughter, to help her, or at least to hold her. But as soon as her feet touched the floor the room wavered and her knees buckled.

"Helen, NO – " Not quick enough to keep her from falling down, Will did manage to catch her before she hit the floor. He eased them both down so that he landed on the floor and Helen fell onto his lap.

"Please just let me see her," Helen sobbed. She hated feeling so helpless.

Helen's cries were like a stab to Will's heart. He couldn't bear to see her so upset. But the only thing he could do to help her now was to stay with her and try to calm her. He tightened his arms around her trying comfort her as best as he could.

Momentarily distracted by the noise behind him, Gregory Magnus turned around to see Will and his daughter on floor. Realizing what had happened he glared at Will in irritation. "For God's sake, Will! Get her back in the bed!" he growled before turning his attention back to the baby.

Will was getting ready to try to lift Helen back onto the bed when suddenly the room was filled with a new sound. Weak at first but quickly gaining strength the baby's cries were a welcome sound to everyone in the room. Helen and Will clung to each other and cried with relief.

"Please," Helen begged looking at Will, "please just let me hold her. Please."

"Just as soon as you're back on the bed," Will smiled and gently kissed her forehead.

Helen made no protests this time. Will helped her up until she was almost standing and then picked her up and lifted her back into the bed. He settled in behind her to help support her back. Gregory carried the crying baby over to the bed and placed her in Helen's arms. The baby calmed as soon as she was in her mother's arms. Tears of relief rolled down Helen's cheeks and when she turned to look at Will, she saw that he too was crying.

Helen was overwhelmed with relief upon seeing that the baby was alive and healthy, but exhaustion was beginning to overtake her. She fought against the urge to close her eyes and simply fall asleep, but eventually lost the battle.

"She's so beautiful," Helen whispered as she began to drift into sleep.

"Just like her mother," Will murmured in response, lightly kissing Helen's forehead as he spoke. "And I love you both so much," he whispered watching Helen as sleep over took her.

Will sat with his arms around Helen watching her sleep. The baby stirred briefly in Helen's arms. As Will watched her she opened her eyes, looked directly at Will, and seemed to smile. Will was surprised when he saw the color of the baby's eyes. They were not the usual pale blue of a newborn infant, instead they were a bright green. Though Will was not accustomed to being around infants, he reached out and without any hesitation he gently stroked the baby's cheek. The baby smiled again and closed her eyes drifting back to sleep.

A few moments later, Gregory returned so that he could move Helen and the baby into the infirmary's recovery rooms. Gregory managed to remove the baby from Helen's arms and place the infant in a small bassinette without waking either of them. Will eased Helen down so that she was resting against the pillows then he got up from the bed to help Gregory move them to the recovery area.

Later that morning Will awoke to an unfamiliar sound. It began softly but grew louder and more insistent with each passing second. He realized the sound was coming from the baby's bassinette, that she was awake. As he looked at his daughter he heard Helen stir on the bed behind him. He turned and saw Helen sitting up in the bed smiling at him.

"Is she awake?" Helen asked. "She's probably hungry. Bring her to me and I'll feed her."

Will looked at Helen uncertainly. "It's alright Will," she said. Then added, "Just remember to support her head."

Will picked up the baby and held her for the first time. He was amazed by how tiny and vulnerable she seemed. Will held her close. The infant snuggled against him quieting briefly but soon began to whimper again when she did not receive what she needed. Will placed her in Helen's arms and joined Helen on the bed, sitting behind her again and supporting her back as she fed the baby. Helen continued to hold the baby after she finished feeding her.

"Dear God!" she said. "Will, look at her eyes."

Will was just as disquieted by the baby's eyes as Helen was, but he was determined to let Helen have this moment. He desperately wanted this moment to be as normal and as worry-free for Helen as possible.

"I know," he said quietly, as he wrapped his arms around Helen, holding her and the baby. "They're beautiful."


End file.
